The British Museum

Established	1753
Location	Great Russell Street, London WC1, England
Visitor figures	4,600,000 (2005-2006) - Review Plan 2005/06
Nearest tube station(s)	Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square, Goodge Street
Website	www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, surrounding the original Reading Room.

The British Museum in London is one of the world's greatest museums of human history and culture. Its collections, which number more than 13 million objects from all continents, illustrate and document the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2560x1920, 1073 KB) Improved version of Image:British_Museum_from_NE.JPG File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British Museum Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The British Museum front entrance on Great Russell Street. ... London WC1 is the London postal district covering the area of central London roughly bounded by Grays Inn Road to the east, High Holborn to the south, Tottenham Court Road to the west and Euston Road to the north. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Holborn tube station Decorated metal panels on Central Line platforms at Holborn, near the British Museum. ... Tottenham Court Road is a station on the London Underground, serving as an interchange between the Central Line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line. ... Russell Square is a London Underground station on Bernard Street, Bloomsbury, not far from the British Museum and Russell Square Gardens. ... Goodge Street Goodge Street is a London Underground station on Tottenham Court Road. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1557, 536 KB) The Great Court of the British Museum, with the new tessellated roof designed by w:Foster and Partners arching around the original, circular, Reading Room of the British Library. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1107x1557, 536 KB) The Great Court of the British Museum, with the new tessellated roof designed by w:Foster and Partners arching around the original, circular, Reading Room of the British Library. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... View of the Great Court. ... Ceiling of the Reading Room The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Louvre Museum in Paris, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. ... HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I is a two-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. The first disc (HIStory Begins) is a fifteen-track greatest hits (later released as Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I), while the second disc (HIStory... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...

The wonders of the museum bought here to Bloomsbury from all around the world's imagined corners are numberless. How can they be named? As well tally each leaf of a tree. They come here out of the living minds of generations of men and women now dead - Greek and Assyrian, Aztec and Inuit, Chinese and Indian - who have conceived and carved and hammered and tempered and cast these objects to represent the worlds around them, visible and invisible.^[1]

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in 1887. Until 1997, when the British Library opened to the public, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and a national library in the same building. Its present chairman is Sir John Boyd and its director is Neil MacGregor. 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Hans Sloane. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... Bloomsbury is an area of central London, in the London Borough of Camden. ... For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... The junction with Old Brompton Road and Pelham Street, outside South Kensington tube station. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... Antiquity means different things: Generally it means ancient history, and may be used of any period before the Middle Ages. ... United States Library of Congress, Jefferson building A national library is a library specifically established by the government of a nation to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. ... Sir John Dixon Ikle Boyd KCMG (born 1936) has been the master of Churchill College, Cambridge since 1996. ... Robert Neil MacGregor (born 1946) is an art historian and museum director. ...

As with all other national museums and art galleries in Britain, the Museum charges no admission fee, although charges are levied for some temporary special exhibitions.

History

Though principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities today, the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". This is reflected in the first bequest by Sir Hans Sloane, comprising some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens, prints by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle and Far East and the Americas. The Foundation Act, passed on 7 June 1753, added two other libraries to the Sloane collection. The Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dated back to Elizabethan times and the Harleian library was the collection of the first and second Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four "Foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library, including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. Hans Sloane. ... Self-Portrait (1500) by Albrecht Dürer, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Albrecht Dürer (älbrekht dürur) (May 21, 1471 – April 6, 1528) [1] was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and, with Rembrandt and Goya, the greatest creator of old master prints. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. ... World map showing the Americas The Americas consists of the land in the Western hemisphere. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1753 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Portrait of Robert Cotton, commissioned 1626 and attributed to Cornelius Johnson (or Janssen), (1593-1661). ... Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (5 December 1661 – 21 May 1724), was an English statesman of the Stuart and early Georgian periods. ... Earl of Oxford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew. ... The first page of Beowulf This article is about the epic poem. ...

The body of trustees (which until 1963 was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons) decided on Montagu House as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on a site now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Arms of the see of Canterbury The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior clergyman of the established Church of England and symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... The entrance front of Montagu House Montagu House (sometimes spelled Montague) was a late 17th century mansion in Great Russell Street in the Bloomsbury district of London which became the first home of the British Museum. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom Inflation 2. ... Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial. ...

After its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Library and David Garrick's library of 1,000 printed plays, but had few ancient relics and would have been unrecognisable to visitors of the modern museum. The first notable addition to the collection of antiquities was by Sir William Hamilton, British Ambassador to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artifacts to the museum in 1782. In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid. After the defeat of the French in the Battle of the Nile in 1801 the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculpture and the Rosetta Stone. Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the Towneley collection in 1805 and the Elgin Marbles in 1816. Portrait of David Garrick David Garrick (February 19, 1717 – January 20, 1779) was an English actor, dramatist, theatrical producer and theatrical manager, and a friend and pupil of Samuel Johnson. ... William Hamilton Sir William Douglas Hamilton (December 13, 1730–April 6, 1803) was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and volcanologist. ... The Bay of Naples Naples (Italian: , Neapolitan: Nàpule, from Greek Νεάπολη < Νέα Πόλις Néa Pólis New City) is the largest city in southern Italy and capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century &#8212; 19th century &#8212; 20th century &#8212; more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Combatants Britain France Commanders The Baron Nelson François-Paul Brueys DAigalliers† Strength 14 ships of the line (13 x 74-gun, 1 x 50-gun), 1 sloop 13 ships of the line (1 x 120-gun, 3 x 80-gun, 9 x 74gun), 4 frigates, some smaller Casualties... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. ... --88. ...

The collection soon outgrew its surroundings and the situation became urgent with the donation in 1822 of King George III's personal library of 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical drawings to the museum. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished in 1845 and replaced by a design by the neoclassical architect Sir Robert Smirke. 1822 (MDCCCXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738&#8211;29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ... The neoclassical movement that produced Neoclassical architecture began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ...

Panorama of the circular Reading Room.

Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Antonio Panizzi. Under his supervision the British Museum Library quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library. The quadrangle at the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's brother, Sydney Smirke. This is where Karl Marx famously carried out much of his research, and wrote some of his most important works. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (4968x1572, 3083 KB) Summary The British Museum Reading Room. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (4968x1572, 3083 KB) Summary The British Museum Reading Room. ... Ceiling of the Reading Room The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. ... Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi (1797 - 1879), better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a British librarian of Italian birth. ... quadrangle is a good name for a mathlete team. ... Ceiling of the Reading Room The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. ... Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2% carbon (alloys with less carbon are carbon steel by definition). ... Sydney Smirke (born 1798; died 1877) was a British architect during the 19th century. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ...

The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum (Natural History), now the Natural History Museum, in 1887. The ethnography collections were until recently housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind in Piccadilly; they have now returned to Bloomsbury and the Department of Ethnography has been renamed the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. For other similarly-named museums see Museum of Natural History. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Ethnography (from the Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing) refers to the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... The Museum of Mankind was a museum in Burlington Gardens, Piccadilly, London. ... Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... For the fictional superstate in George Orwells novel, see Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four). ... World map showing the Americas The Americas consists of the land in the Western hemisphere. ...

The temporary exhibition Treasures of Tutankhamun, held by the British Museum in 1972, was the most successful in British history, attracting 1,694,117 visitors. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing The British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997. Nebkheperure Lord of the forms of Re Nomen Tutankhaten Living Image of the Aten Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema Living Image of Amun, ruler of Upper Heliopolis Horus name Kanakht Tutmesut The strong bull, pleasing of birth Nebty name Neferhepusegerehtawy One of perfect laws, who pacifies the two lands[1] Wer-Ah-Amun... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... St Pancras is the name of a place in London. ...

With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum now empty, the process of demolition for Lord Foster's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while undoubtedly improving circulation around the museum, was criticised for having a lack of exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many galleries were closed to the public. At the same time the African and Oceanic collections that had been temporarily housed in Burlington House were given a new gallery in the North Wing funded by the Sainsbury family. In 2002 the museum was even closed for a day when its staff protested about proposed redundancies. A few weeks later the theft of a small Greek statue was blamed on lack of security staff. A new dome for the restored Reichstag in Berlin, housing the German parliament. ... View of the Great Court. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Burlington House is a courtyard building off Picadilly in London. ... J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsburys, which is a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

In autumn 2001 the 8 million objects forming the Museum's permanent collection were further expanded by the addition of 6 million objects from the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory.^[2] These were donated by Professor Fred Wendorf of Southern Methodist University in Texas, and comprise the entire collection of artefacts and environmental remains from his excavations between 1963 and 1997. They are housed in the the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan. Dallas Hall at Dedman College at SMU The Laura Lee Blanton Hall during a rare snow Southern Methodist University (also known as SMU) is a private, coeducational university in University Park, Texas, (an enclave of Dallas). ...

The Building

The British Museum - Aerial View

The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke, with 44 columns in the Ionic order 13.7 metres (45 ft) high, closely based on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor. The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The Progress of Civilisation, consisting of fifteen allegorical figures, installed in 1852. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1687x1661, 582 KB) Description: The British Museum, Aerial Plan Author: Google + Personal Editing Source: Google Images File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British Museum ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1687x1661, 582 KB) Description: The British Museum, Aerial Plan Author: Google + Personal Editing Source: Google Images File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British Museum ... Walhalla temple in Bavaria was completed in 1842. ... Sir Robert Smirke (1781-18 April 1867) was a leading 19th century British architect. ... Architects first real look at the Greek Ionic order: Julien David LeRoy, Les ruines plus beaux des monuments de la Grèce Paris, 1758 (Plate XX) The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and... This article is about a foot as a unit of length. ... Priene (mod. ... Anatolia (Greek: &#945;&#957;&#945;&#964;&#959;&#955;&#951; anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to... A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. ... Sir Richard Westmacott, Jr. ...

The construction commenced around the courtyard with the East Wing (The King's Library) in 1823-28, followed by the North Wing in 1833-38, original this housed amongst other galleries a reading room now the Wellcome Gallery, work was also progressing on the northern half of the West Wing (The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery) 1826-31, then Montagu House was demolished from 1842 to make room for the final part of the West Wing completed in 1846 and the South Wing with its great colonnade, this was initiated in 1843, and completed in 1847 when the Front Hall and Great Staircase were opened to the public.^[3]

In 1846 Robert Smirke was replaced as the Museum's architect by his brother Sydney Smirke, whose major addition was the Round Reading Room 1854-57; at 42.6 metres (140 ft) in diameter it was then the second widest dome in the world, the Pantheon in Rome being slightly wider. Facade of the Pantheon The Pantheon (Latin Pantheon[1], from Greek Πάνθεον Pantheon, meaning Temple of all the Gods) is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome, but which has been a...

The next major addition was the White Wing 1882-84 added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the architect being Sir John Taylor. Sir John Taylor KCB FRIBA (15 November 1833 – 30 April 1912) was a British architect. ...

In 1895 the Trustees purchased the 69 houses surronding the Museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the West, North and East sides of the Museum new galleries that would completely fill the block on which the Museum stands. Of this grand plan only the Edward VII galleries in the centre of the North Front were ever constructed, these were built 1906-14 to the design of Sir John James Burnet and now house the Asian and Islamic collections. Sir John James Burnet (1857 - 1938) , son of the architect John Burnet was born in Glasgow. ...

Proposed British Museum Extension, 1906

The British Museum, Great Court

The Duveen Gallery, sited to the west of the Egyptian, Greek & Assyrian sculpture galleries, was designed to house the Elgin Marbles by the American Beaux-Arts architect John Russell Pope. Although completed in 1938 it was hit by a bomb in 1940 and remained semi-derelict for 22 years before reopening in 1962. Other areas damaged during World War II bombing included: in September 1940 two unexploded bombs hit the Edward VII galleries, the King's Library received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, incendiaries fell on the dome of the Round Reading Room but did little damage; on the night of 10th to 11th May 1941 several incendiaries fell on the South West corner of the Museum destroying the book stack and 150,000 books in the courtyard and the galleries around the top of the Great Staircase burnt, this damage was not fully repaired until the early 1960's. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1484x567, 308 KB) Description: The British Museum, Archive - Impression of Museum Extension Author: Mujtaba Chohan Source: British Museum Visit File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1484x567, 308 KB) Description: The British Museum, Archive - Impression of Museum Extension Author: Mujtaba Chohan Source: British Museum Visit File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British... Download high resolution version (682x1024, 181 KB)The New Great Court of the British Museum. ... Download high resolution version (682x1024, 181 KB)The New Great Court of the British Museum. ... Joseph Duveen (1869 &#8211; 1939), later made Baron Duveen of Millbank, was one of the most influential art dealers of all time. ... Beaux-Arts architecture[1] denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. ... The Jefferson Memorial, built 1939 — 1943 John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an architect most known for his designs of the Jefferson Memorial (completed in 1943) and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art (completed in 1941) in Washington, DC. Pope was born in... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian...

The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court is a covered square at the centre of the British Museum designed by the engineers Buro Happold and the architects Foster and Partners^[4]. The Great Court opened in December 2000 and is the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel construction with 1,656 uniquely shaped panes of glass. At the centre of the Great Court is the Reading Room vacated by the British Library, its functions now moved to St Pancras. The Reading Room is open to any member of the public who wishes to read there. Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... // View of the Great Court Buro Happold is a professional services firm providing engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of buildings, infrastructure and the environment. ... 30 St Mary Axe, one of Londons most popular new buildings, towers above its neighbours. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ...

Currently there are nearly one hundred galleries open to the public although the less popular have restricted opening times.

The Departments

The British Museum - Throne Relief Cast from the Hall of the Hundred Columns, Persepolis

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (918x2089, 358 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 5 - Forgotten Empire Exhibition Throne Relief Cast, from the Hall of the Hundred Columns, Persepolis Author: Published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1932 Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (918x2089, 358 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 5 - Forgotten Empire Exhibition Throne Relief Cast, from the Hall of the Hundred Columns, Persepolis Author: Published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1932 Source: http://www. ...

Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan

The British Museum houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. An unequalled collection of immense importance for its range and quality, comprising objects of all periods from virtually every site of importance in Egypt and the Sudan. Objects illustrating every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley (including Nubia), from the Predynastic Neolithic period (c. 10 000 BC) through to the Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD), a time-span over 11,000 years.

The British Museum, Room 4 - Colossal Granite head of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)

The British Museum, Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture

Egyptian antiquities have formed part of the British Museum collection ever since it's foundation in 1753 after receiving 150 Egyptian objects from Sir Hans Sloane. After the defeat of the French forces under Napolean at Alexandria in 1801, the Egyptian antiquities collected were confiscated by the British army and presented to the British Museum in 1803. Thus forming the first important acquisition of large sculptures, the most famous being the Rosetta Stone and has remained in the Museum ever since. Thereafter, Britain appointed Henry Salt as consul in Egypt who amassed a huge collection of antiquities. Most of the antiquities Salt collected were purchased by The British Museum and the Musee du Louvre. By 1866 the collection consisted of some 10,000 objects. Antiquities from excavations started to come to the Museum in the later 19th century as a result of the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund under the efforts of E.A. Wallis Budge. The collection stood at 57,000 objects by 1924. Active support by the Museum for excavations in Egypt continued to result in useful acquisitions throughout the 20th Century until changes in antiquities laws in Egypt led to the suspension of policies allowing finds to be exported. The size of the Egyptian collections now stands at over 110,000 objects ^{[5] [6]}. Image File history File links BM,_AES_Egyptian_Sulpture_~_Colossal_Granite_head_of_Amenhotep_III_(Room_4). ... Image File history File links BM,_AES_Egyptian_Sulpture_~_Colossal_Granite_head_of_Amenhotep_III_(Room_4). ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 309 KB) Description: The British Museum. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 309 KB) Description: The British Museum. ...

A representative selection of 4% of the entire collection is on display in the Museum's seven permanent Egyptian galleries, including monumental sculptures adorning the Museum's largest exhibition space (Room 4). Also contained in the upper galleries are a selection of the Museum's famous collection of 140 mummies and coffins, the largest outside Cairo. A high proportion of the collection comes from tombs or contexts associated with the cult of the dead, and it is these pieces, in particular the mummies, that remain among the most eagerly-sought exhibits by visitors to the Museum.

The British Museum, Room 4 - Colossal bust of Ramesses II (1250 BC)

Key highlights of the collections include: Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 640 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 4 - Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the Younger Memnon From the Ramesseum, Thebes, Egypt 19th Dynasty, about 1250 BC One of the largest pieces of Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum Weighing 7. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 640 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 4 - Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the Younger Memnon From the Ramesseum, Thebes, Egypt 19th Dynasty, about 1250 BC One of the largest pieces of Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum Weighing 7. ...

• The Rosetta Stone (196 BC)
• Limestone statue of a husband and wife (1300 BC)
• Colossal bust of Ramesses II, the 'Younger Memnon' (1250 BC)
• Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
• Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
• Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
• Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx (1300 BC)
• List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC)
• Limestone false door of Ptahshepses (2380 BC)
• Granite statue of Senwosret III (1850 BC)
• Mummy of Cleopatra from Thebes (100 AD)
• Amarna Tablets (Collection of 94 out of 382 tablets found, second greatest in the world after the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (202 tablets)) (1350 BC)

Comparably, other great Egyptian collections can be found at The Egyptian Museum, Cairo (140,000 objects), ^[7], Musée du Louvre, Paris (50,000 objects) ^[8], Petrie Museum, London (80,000 objects)^[9], The Museo Egizio, Turin (32,500 objects)^[10], The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36,000 objects)^[11], Āgyptisches museum (The Neues Museum), Berlin (23,000 objects)^[12], Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (40,000 objects)^[13], The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Pennsylvania (42,000 objects)^[14], The Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago (30,000 objects)^[15].

Department of the Ancient Near East

With approximately 280,000 objects in the collection, the British Museum has the greatest collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq. The holdings of Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities are among the most comprehensive in the world.

The British Museum, Room 7 - Reliefs from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud

The collections represent the civilisations of the ancient Near East and its adjacent areas. These include Mesopotamia, Iran (13,000 objects)^[16], the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, Syria, Palestine and Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean from the prehistoric period until the coming of Islam in the 7th century AD. The collection includes six iconic winged human-headed statues from Nimrud and Khorsabad. Stone bas-reliefs, including the famous Royal Lion Hunt relief's (Room 10), that were found in the palaces of the Assyrian kings at Nimrud and Nineveh. The famous Royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and Sumerian treasures found in Royal Cemetery's at Ur of the Chaldees. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1140 KB) Description: The British Museum: Room 7 - Panelled Wall Reliefs from the North West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1140 KB) Description: The British Museum: Room 7 - Panelled Wall Reliefs from the North West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. ...

A representative selection, including the most important pieces, are on display in 13 galleries and total some 4500 objects. The remainder form the study collection which ranges in size from beads to large sculptures. They include approximately 130,000 cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia.

Contemporary collections can be found in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (90,000 objects), The Oriental Institute of Art, Chicago (20,000 objects)^[17], Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (7,000 objects)^[18]

The British Museum, Room 6 - Pair of Human Headed Winged Lions and Reliefs from Nimrud with The Gates of Balawat in the background.

Key highlights of the collections include: Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 284 KB) Description: The British Musuem, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture Winged human-headed lions and reliefs from the Northwest Palace of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud lead to a statue of the king and to a replica of the huge... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 284 KB) Description: The British Musuem, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture Winged human-headed lions and reliefs from the Northwest Palace of King Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud lead to a statue of the king and to a replica of the huge...

Nimrud (City in Northern Iraq)

Alabaster bas-reliefs from:

• The North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II
• Central- Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III,
• South-West Palace of Esarhaddon
• Palace of Adad-Nirari III
• South-East Palace ('Burnt Palace')
• The Nabu Temple (Ezida)
• The Sharrat-Niphi Temple
• Temple of Ninurta

The British Museum, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture

Sculptures

• Pair of Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu' Lions (883-859 BC)
• Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu' Bull (883-859 BC), sister piece in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu' Lion (883-859 BC), sister piece in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• Colossal Statue of a Lion (883-859 BC)
• Rare Head of Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu', recovered from the remains of the South-West Palace of Esarhaddon
• The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC)
• The White Obelisk (1050-1031 BC)

The British Museum, Room 55 - Cuneiform Collection, including the famous Epic of Gilgamesh.

Nineveh (City in Northern Iraq)

Alabaster bas-reliefs from:

• North-Palace of Ashurbanipal
• Famous Royal Lion Hunt Scenes
• The 'Dying Lion', long been acclaimed as a masterpiece
• The 'Garden Party' Relief
• The White Obelisk, Some of the earliest scenes of Assyrian narrative art
• South-West Palace of Sennacherib

Royal Library of Ashurbanipal

• A large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance approximately 22,000 inscribed clay tablets, now located in the British Museum
• The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh

Khorsabad (City in Northern Iraq)

• Alabaster bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sargon II
• Pair of Human Headed Winged 'Lamassu' Bulls

Wider Museum Collection

• Cyrus Cylinder from Babylon
• Bronze gates of Shalmaneser III and Ashurnasirpal II from Balawat
• A fine collection of Urartian bronzes, which now form the core of the Anatolian collection
• Oxus Treasure
• The Standard of Ur
• The 'Ram in a Thicket'
• The Royal Game of Ur
• Queen's Lyre

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1026 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture Stelae and statues from four generations of Assyrian kings: Ashurnasirpal II, Shalmaneser III, Shamshi-Adad V and Adad-Nirari III; the famous Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the White Obelisk... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1026 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 6 - Assyrian Sculpture Stelae and statues from four generations of Assyrian kings: Ashurnasirpal II, Shalmaneser III, Shamshi-Adad V and Adad-Nirari III; the famous Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the White Obelisk... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1148 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 55 - Cuneiform Collection The display also contains the most famous cuneiform tablet of them all, The Epic of Gilgamesh. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1148 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 55 - Cuneiform Collection The display also contains the most famous cuneiform tablet of them all, The Epic of Gilgamesh. ...

Department of Coins and Medals

The British Museum is home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections, comprising about one million objects. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day. Numismatics is the scientific study of money and its history in all its varied forms. ...

There are approximately 9,000 coins, medals and banknotes on display around the British Museum. More than half of these can be found in the HSBC Money Gallery (Gallery 68), while the remainder form part of the permanent displays throughout the Museum.

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

The Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum has one of the world's most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200BC) to the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD, with some pagan survivals.

The British Museum, Room 17 - The Nereid Monument

The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (960x1280, 544 KB) Description: The British Museum. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (960x1280, 544 KB) Description: The British Museum. ...

The Department also houses one of the widest-ranging collections of Italic and Etruscan antiquities and extensive groups of material from Cyprus. The collections of ancient jewellery and bronzes, Greek vases and Roman glass and silver are particularly important.

Key highlights of the collections include:

The British Museum, Room 18 - Parthenon Galleries, Temple of Athena Parthenos (447-438 B.C)

Athenian Akropolis

The Parthenon Gallery ("Elgin Marbles")

• The Parthenon Marbles are one of the finest manifestations of human creation. The Magnificent Relief Frieze showing the Panathenaic procession is considered as the most famous surviving example of art from Ancient Greece, often praised as the finest achievement of Greek architecture, Its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art.

The British Museum, Room 83 - Roman Sculpture

Erechtheion

• The Finest of 6 remaining Caryatids
• Surviving Column

Athena Nike

• Surviving Frieze Slabs

Bassae Sculptures

• Sculptures from the temple of Apollo Epikourios ('Helper') at Bassae in Arcadia.
• Twenty three surviving blocks of the frieze from the interior of the temple are exhibited on an upper level.

The British Museum, Room 21 - Mausoleum of Halikarnassos.JPG

Mausoleum of Halikarnassos

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• Two colossal free-standing figures identified as Maussollos and his wife Artemisia.
• Part of an impressive horse from the chariot group adorning the summit of the Mausoleum
• The Amazonomachy frieze - A long section of relief frieze showing the battle between Greeks and Amazons

Temple of Artemis at Ephesos

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• Architectiral fragments from the Archaic and fourth century temples of Artemis
• Marble column drum from the later Temple of Artemis

The British Museum, Room 22 - The Hellenistic World

Asia Minor ('Turkey')

Nereid Monument

• Partial reconstruction of the Monument, a large and elaborate Lykian tomb from the site of Xanthos in south-west Turkey
• Payava Tomb from Xanthos in south west Turkey

Wider Museum Collection

• Material from the Palace of Knossos
• Portland Vase
• The Warren Cup
• Discus-thrower (discobolos)
• Townley Sculptures

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1048 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 18 - The Parthenon Galleries (North Slip Room) Room 18 is also known as the Duveen gallery. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1048 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 18 - The Parthenon Galleries (North Slip Room) Room 18 is also known as the Duveen gallery. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1003 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 83 - Roman Sculptures Room 83 is occupied by Roman sculptures, including sarcophagi and large sculptures from public buildings in cities such as Sardis, Ephesos, Alexandria and Cyrene. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1003 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 83 - Roman Sculptures Room 83 is occupied by Roman sculptures, including sarcophagi and large sculptures from public buildings in cities such as Sardis, Ephesos, Alexandria and Cyrene. ... Image File history File links BM,_GMR_-_RM21,_Mausoleum_of_Halikarnassos. ... Image File history File links BM,_GMR_-_RM21,_Mausoleum_of_Halikarnassos. ... The Seven Wonders of the World (from left to right, top to bottom): Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. ... Image File history File links BM;_GMR_-_Rm22,_The_Hellenistic_World. ... Image File history File links BM;_GMR_-_Rm22,_The_Hellenistic_World. ...

Department of Prints and Drawings

The Department of Prints and Drawings holds the national collection of Western Prints and Drawings. It ranks as one of the largest collections in existence alongside the Musee du Louvre and the Hermitage as one of the top three collections of its kind.

The British Museum, Room 90 - Durer, The Triumphal Arch - One of the largest prints ever produced

Since its foundation in 1808 the Prints and Drawings collection has grown to international renown as one of the richest and most representative collections in the world. There are approximately 50,000 Drawings and over 2 million Prints. The collection of Drawings covers the period 14th century to the present, and includes many works of the highest quality by the leading artists of the European school. The collection of Prints covers the tradition of fine printmaking from its beginnings in the 15th century up to the present, with near complete holdings of most of the great names before the 19th century. Image File history File links Durer_-_The_Triumphal_Arch. ... Image File history File links Durer_-_The_Triumphal_Arch. ...

The British Museum, Room 90 - Michelangelo, Epifania - Last surviving large scale cartoon by the artist

There are magnificent groups of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo (including his only surviving full-scale cartoon), Dürer (a collection of 138 drawings is one of the finest in existence), Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude and Watteau, and virtually complete collections of the works of all the great printmakers including unsurpassed holdings of prints by Dürer (99 engravings, 6 etchings and a substantial number of his 346 woodcuts), Rembrandt and Goya. More than 30,000 British drawings and watercolours include important examples work by Hogarth, Sandby, Turner, Girtin, Constable, Cotman, Cox, Gillray, Rowlandson and Cruikshank, as well as all the great Victorians. There are about a million British prints including more than 20,000 satires and outstanding collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick. Image File history File links Michelangelo_Epifania. ... Image File history File links Michelangelo_Epifania. ...

Comparably, other great collections include: Musee du Louvre, Paris (133,000 Drawings, 46,000 Prints)^[19], State Hermitage, St. Petersburg (39,000 Drawings, 486,000 Prints)^[20], The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (11,000 Drawings, 1.5 million Prints)^[21], Kupferstichkabinett, Museum of Prints and Drawings,. Berlin (110,000 Drawings, 500,000 Prints)^[22], Royal Collection, London (40,000 Drawings, 150,000 Prints, inc. 600 Leonardo da Vinci Drawings)^[23], Fitzwilliam, Cambridge (20,000 Drawings, 180,000 Prints)^[24], Uffizi Gallery, Florence (120,000 Drawings and Prints)^[25], National Gallery of Art, Washington (100,000 Drawings and Prints)^[26], Moma, New York (6000 Drawings, 50,000 Prints)^[27], Brooklyn Museum, New York (2,000 Drawings, 40,000 Prints)^[28], The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (11,500 Drawings, 60,000 Prints)^[29], Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (150,000 Drawings and Prints)^[30]

Department of Asia

The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely broad, its collections of over 70,000 objects covers the material culture of the whole Asian continent (from East Asia, South and Central Asia, South-East Asia and the Islamic world) and from the Neolithic up to the present day.

Key highlights of the collections include:

• The most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati
• An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts
• A fine collection of Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang in Central Asia and the Admonitions Scroll by Gu Kaizhi
• A broad range of Islamic pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions.
• The most comprehensive collection of Japanese pre-20th century decorative arts in the western world

Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas

The British Museum houses one of the world's greatest and most comprehensive collections of Ethnographic material from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, representing the cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Over 550,000 objects spanning two million years tells the story of the history of man, from three major continents and many rich and diverse cultures.

The British Museum, Room 25 - The Wellcome Trust Gallery

The Sainsbury African Galleries display 600 objects from the greatest permanent collection of African arts and culture in the world. The three permanent galleries provide a substantial and permanent exhibition space for the Museum's African collection comprising over 200,000 objects. A curatorial scope that encompasses both archaeological and contemporary material, including both unique masterpieces of artistry and objects of everyday life. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (947x500, 314 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 24 - Wellcome Trust Gallery + Living & Dying Author: Unknown Source: Google Images File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (947x500, 314 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 24 - Wellcome Trust Gallery + Living & Dying Author: Unknown Source: Google Images File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British...

Highlights of the collection include a magnificent brass head of a Yoruba ruler from Ife, Nigeria; Asante goldwork from Ghana and the Torday collection of Central African sculpture, textiles and weaponry.

The collection mainly consists of 19th- and 20th-century items although the Inca, Aztec, Maya and other early cultures are well represented; collecting of modern artifacts is ongoing. For other meanings of Inca, see Inca (disambiguation). ... The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries who built an extensive empire in the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. ... The word Maya or maya can refer to: // The Maya, Native American peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America Maya peoples, the contemporary indigenous peoples Maya civilization, their historical pre-Columbian civilization Mayan languages, the family of languages spoken by the Maya Maya people, an Australian Aboriginal tribe Maya...

Other comparable collections can be found at The Horniman Museum, London (80,000 objects), Pitt Rivers Museum, Cambridge, Musée du quai Branly, Paris(300,000 objects), Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (100,000 Japanese Pieces), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (11,000 objects), Brooklyn Museum, New York (11,000 objects) and the Ethnographic Museum, Berlin (500,000 objects).

Department of Prehistory and Europe

The prehistoric collections cover Europe, Africa and Asia, the earliest African artefacts being around 2,000,000 years old. Coverage of Europe extends to the present day.

Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science

This department was founded in 1924. Conservation has six specialist areas: ceramics & glass; metals; organic material (including textiles); stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The science department has and continues to develop techniques to date artefacts, analyse and identify the materials used in their manufacture, to identify the place an artifact originated and the techniques used in their creation. The deparment also publishes its findings and discoveries.

Libraries and Archives

This department covers all levels of education, from casual visitors, schools, degree level and beyond. The Museum's various libraries hold in excess of 350,000 books, journals & pamphlets covering all areas of the museum's collection. Also the general Museum archives which date from its foundation in 1753 are overseen by this department; the indivdual departments have their own separate archives covering their various areas of responsibility.

The Collections

The British Museum, Room 20 - The Tomb of Payava, Lykian, about 375-360 BC

Highlights of the collections include: Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (467x678, 79 KB) Descripion: The Tomb of Payava, Lykian, about 375-360 BC From Xanthos (modern Günük, south-western Turkey) One of the most common forms of free-standing Lykian tombs is the barrel-vaulted sarcophagus, placed on a... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (467x678, 79 KB) Descripion: The Tomb of Payava, Lykian, about 375-360 BC From Xanthos (modern Günük, south-western Turkey) One of the most common forms of free-standing Lykian tombs is the barrel-vaulted sarcophagus, placed on a...

• The Elgin Marbles, carvings from the Athenian Parthenon
• The Portland Vase
• The Rosetta Stone
• The Stein collection from Central Asia
• Works by Albrecht Dürer
• The Benin Bronzes
• The Cyrus Cylinder and many other Persian artifacts
• Anglo-Saxon artifacts from the Sutton Hoo burial
• The Lewis Chessmen
• The Mold cape (a Bronze age gold ceremonial cape)
• The basalt moai (statue) Hoa Hakananai'a from Easter Island
• The Mildenhall Treasure

--88. ... The Parthenon seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... The Portland Vase The Portland Vase is a first-century Roman glass vase, which served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain makers from about the beginning of the 18th century onwards. ... The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. ... Image:AurelStein. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Self-Portrait (1500) by Albrecht Dürer, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Albrecht Dürer (älbrekht dürur) (May 21, 1471 – April 6, 1528) [1] was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and, with Rembrandt and Goya, the greatest creator of old master prints. ... The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than 1,000 brass plaques from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin. ... The Cyrus Cylinder The Cyrus Cylinder is an artifact of the Persian Empire, consisting of a declaration inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform on a clay barrel. ... Motto: de facto: Esteqlāl, āzādÄ«, jomhÅ«rÄ«-ye eslāmÄ«[1]   (Persian for Independence, freedom, (the) Islamic Republicde jure: Allaho Akbar (Arabic for God is Great)[2] Anthem: SorÅ«d-e MellÄ«-e Īrān Capital (and largest city) Tehran Official languages Persian Government Islamic Republic  - Supreme... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... Sutton Hoo parade helmet (British Museum, restored). ... The Lewis chessmen top: king, queen, bishop middle: knight, rook, pawn bottom: closeup of queen The Lewis chessmen belong to one of the few complete medieval chess sets that have survived until today. ... Mold (Welsh: ) is a town in Flintshire, Wales, on the River Alyn. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... General Name, Symbol, Number gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 6, d Appearance metallic yellow Atomic mass 196. ... Basalt Columnar basalt at Sheepeater Cliff in Yellowstone Basalt (IPA: ) is a common gray to black volcanic rock. ... motto: ( Rapa Nui ) Also called Te Pito O Te Henua (Ombligo del mundo) (Navel of the world) Discovered by Europeans April 5, 1722 by Jakob Roggeveen Capital Hanga Roa Area  - City Proper  163,6 km² Population  - City (2005)  - Density (city proper) 3. ... This article is about the village of Mildenhall, Suffolk. ...

Controversy

A few of the Parthenon Marbles (popularly known as the Elgin Marbles) from the East Pediment of the Parthenon.

It is a point of controversy whether museums should be allowed to possess artefacts taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of both sets of artefacts to their native countries of Greece and Nigeria respectively. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1242x694, 154 KB) The left hand group of surviving figures from the East Pediment of the Parthenon, exhibited as part of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1242x694, 154 KB) The left hand group of surviving figures from the East Pediment of the Parthenon, exhibited as part of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. ... Metope from the Parthenon marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting The Elgin Marbles is the popular term for the Parthenon Marbles, a large collection of marble sculptures brought to Britain between 1801 and 1805 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the official British resident in Ottoman Athens... --88. ... A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. ... The Parthenon seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... Metope from the Parthenon marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting The Elgin Marbles is the popular term for the Parthenon Marbles, a large collection of marble sculptures brought to Britain between 1801 and 1805 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the official British resident in Ottoman Athens... The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than 1,000 brass plaques from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin. ...

The British Museum has refused to return either set, or any of its other disputed items, stating that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world".^[31] The Museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents it from selling any of its valuable artefacts, even the ones not on display. Critics have particularly argued against the right of the British Museum to own objects which it does not share with the public.

Supporters of the Museum claim that it has provided protection for artefacts that might have otherwise been damaged or destroyed if they had been left in their original environments. While some critics have accepted this, they also argue that the artefacts should now be returned to their countries of origin if there is sufficient expertise and desire there to preserve them.

The British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artefacts under British law.

Trivia

Pornographic and erotic items from many cultures - some of them Victorian fakes - were formerly kept in 'Cupboard 55' in the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities (now part of the Department of Prehistory and Europe). This collection, not accessible to the public, was known as "the Secretum"; much of it had been collected by George Witt, a banker and former Mayor of Bedford, but was largely deemed unfit for public display on grounds of quality, rather than because of supposed obscenity. The Secretum is a name given to Cupboard 55 in the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities at the British Museum, London. ...

The Museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Hay Tor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway. Hay tor Hay tor quarry Hay Tor is a tor on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. ... This unique granier-railed tramway was built in Devon to carry granite down from the Dartmoor heights for the construction of houses, bridges and other structures. ...

Galleries

Building

Floor Plans

Museum Galleries

Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan

Room 4 - Ancient Egypt Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1094 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 4 - Egyptian Gallery Author: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

Room 4 - Egyptian Sculpture Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 315 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 4 - Egyptian Gallery Author: Mujtaba Chohan Source: British Museum Visit File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): The British Museum...

Department of the Ancient Near East

Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Room 18 - Parthenon Freize Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1298x1007, 263 KB) The room containing the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. ...

Room 18 - Ancient Greece Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1003 KB) Description: The British Museum , Room 18 - The Parthenon Frieze Author: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

Room 84 - Townley Sculptures Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1018 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 84 - Townley Sculptures Author: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

Room 19 - Athens, Erechtheion Sculptures from the Acropolis Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 80 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 19 - Greece: The Acropolis and Late 5th Century BC Room 19 has Greek material from the later 5th century BC, including sculptures from buildings on the Athenian Akropolis. ...

Exhibitions

Forgotten Empire Exhibition (Oct 2005 - Jan 2006)

Room 5 - Exhibitions Panorama Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1016 KB) Description: The British Musuem, Room 5 - Persepolis Bas-relief Cast of Persepolis bas-relief for the Forgotten Empire Exhibition + Other Exhibits Author: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

Room 5 - The Persepolis Casts This image is a collage of various photographs of Persepolis from the traveladventures. ...

Room 5 - Exhibitions Relics Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 1092 KB) Description: The British Musuem, Room 5 - Persepolis Bas-relief Cast of Persepolis bas-relief for the Forgotten Empire Exhibition + Other Exhibits Author: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

Room 5 - The Cyrus Cylinder Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 334 KB) Description: The British Museum, Room 5 - The Forgotten Empire Exhibition (Oct 2005) ~ The Cyrus Cylinder Authior: Mujtaba Chohan E-mail: m. ...

References

1. ^ Britain's Best Museums and Galleries, Mark Fisher, published 2004. ISBN 0-713-99575-0
2. ^ http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/aes/aesrestud3.html
3. ^ Building the British Museum, Marjorie Caygill & Christopher Date 1999
4. ^ Norman Foster and the British Museum, Norman Foster, Deyan Sudjic & Spencer de Grey 2001
5. ^ http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/aes/galleries/understand3.html
6. ^ http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/spencer.htm
7. ^ http://www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg/about_overview.html
8. ^ http://www.clevelandart.org/archive/pharaoh/phabt.html
9. ^ http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/index2.html
10. ^ http://www.museoegizio.it/pages/History.jsp
11. ^ http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/introduction.asp?dep=10
12. ^ Ancient Egypt, BM Press,Pg 56, ISBN 0-7141-1950-4
13. ^ http://www.mfa.org/egypt/explore_ancient_egypt/
14. ^ http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/exhibits/galleries/egyptian.html
15. ^ http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OI_Museum_Egypt.html
16. ^ http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/collections/SE000073.html#Asian:_Sri_Lankan
17. ^ http://maroon.uchicago.edu/news/articles/2003/10/09/new_exhibit_will_fea.php
18. ^ http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/introduction.asp?dep=3
19. ^ http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/liste_departements.jsp?bmLocale=en
20. ^ http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?/staticE/page1946.html
21. ^ http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/introduction.asp?dep=9
22. ^ http://www.smb.museum/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objectId=8
23. ^ http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=19
24. ^ http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/pdp/prints/
25. ^ http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/musei/disegni/
26. ^ http://www.nga.gov/resources/dcgdesc.shtm
27. ^ http://www.moma.org/research/studycenters/index.html#drawstudy
28. ^ http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/collections/prints-drawings-and-photographs.php
29. ^ http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/prints/index.php
30. ^ http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/216-436-429-341.html
31. ^ http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/gr/andart.html

External links

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